Work is Having Fun

A profile on my writing and teaching career, called "Horror Writer Does his Best Work Having Fun" was just published in the newsletter of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. Their web site is for members only but they've kindly shared a .pdf file of the feature story that the public can read. Here's a short excerpt: Arnzen also credits his success with taking creative risks. “This is another way of saying I don’t mind embarrassing myself,” he said. “Genres rely on conventions and expectations, so many writers err on the side of repeating what’s been done before.” Arnzen said…

Podcast Interview at Chronicles of the Necromancer

Gail Z. Martin, author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, recently interviewed me for her ongoing series of podcasts with dark fantasy, paranormal and science fiction writers. Our chatty conversation about gore, humor, death and the attraction of horror stories is now available in a podcast on Gail's site, which presently features an all-star roster of writers, including Jeffery Thomas, Tony Ruggiero, Justin Gustainis, Alethea Kontis, and Mark Chadbourn. Gail's latest book is The Blood King, available now from amazon.com, and her new book, Dark Haven is due soon from Solaris Books. Topics we discuss in our interview: fantasy…

Ghoulish Goals

From the June 2008 Pittsburgh Professional Magazine:   Ghoulish Goals: Seton Hill writing professor keeps collecting awards for his horror fiction by Kathleen Ganster (photos by Jim Judkis).

Enter the FearZone

Fearzone.com is running several features on my writing this week: a meaty FICTION EXCERPT from my new novelette from Bad Moon Books, called The Bitchfight; a celebratory REVIEW of that book (which calls it "an enormously entertaining modern tale of terror perhaps destined to become a future classic."; and finally, a fun INTERVIEW with me conducted by the inimitable horror humorist, Jeff Strand FearZone is really shaping up to be one of the best horror genre news sites out there, updated with new reviews, interviews, blog features and news items on a daily basis. Instead of eschewing film for a…

Oh, The Horror: It’s Good for You

I spoke with acclaimed writer and cultural historian Michael Sims for the latest issue of REZOOM magazine, in feature story called "Oh, The Horror: It's Good For You": Arnzen credits Mad magazine and the self-referential world of horror film with helping inspire his own ironic worldview. "Everything's a parody to me — especially other texts. Sometimes I'll recast the characters by putting pop celebrities in the roles. What if Britney Spears were Rebecca in this novel?" He narrates his short-short fiction and poetry with a dry, ironic tone, leaving the reader to decide whether to laugh at the horrific (but…